The fellas in Ice Nine Kills have found themselves in the middle of a controversy surrounding some promotional AI artwork, and they are pushing back by trolling their critics.
It all started when the metalcore band shared a post on their Instagram, promoting a Memorial Day merch sale. The image used in the promotion was of horror icons Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees at a bloody cookout. Lambgoat reports that some people believe the image was generated using AI, though that doesn’t necessarily seem to have been officially confirmed.
Notably, the image is not part of the band’s merch or album art. It was exclusively used to promote holiday merchandise sales. Even still, the move didn’t sit well with some people, and the band began receiving criticism over the use of the image.
In response, the Ice Nine Kills guys opted to go the trolling route, sending out a message that reads: “We are vigorously investigating the disturbing claims that a recent promotional image was sloppily birthed by AI. We solemnly pledge to get to the bottom of this horrific headline-making crime against Redditors. For now, enjoy our new promo photo, taken just moments ago.”
Ice Nine Kills Responds to AI Accusations
Alongside their retort, Ice Nine Kills shared another image—also likely AI-generated, but this is also technically unconfirmed—of the band members appearing, as the kids would say, “swole.”
As I’m sure they expected, this has only exacerbated the issue, with the band getting literally thousands of comments, the loudest of which are continued criticisms over the band’s use of AI imagery, which might have actually not even been their choice in the first place.
There have been unsubstantiated claims that the decision may have been made by other individuals involved, who were unaware that the image they were using was possibly AI-generated. This, too, is unclear.
AI-Generated Artwork Takes Jobs Away From Artists
Look, on one hand, this whole thing seems very overblown for an image that the band is not actually profiting off of.
On the other hand, it’s just a fact that AI-generated artwork does take jobs away from artists, so it’s understandable that people would want to defend that at all levels, because it can be a slippery slope. Clearly, this conversation is not going away any time soon.
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